The Bishop's Wife Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

The Bishop's Wife Blu-ray Movie Review

Bishop Takes Queen

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 31, 2013

The most famous Christmas angel in American film is Clarence, the former clockmaker who aids Jimmy Stewart in his hour of need in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946). But Clarence wasn't always so well-known, because Capra's film wasn't an overnight success. Released to lukewarm reception, its reputation, and Clarence's, were a product of infinite replay on holiday season TV. The year after It's a Wonderful Life, Clarence was eclipsed by his debonair cousin, Dudley, another angel without wings who was sent down in answer to a prayer to assist a struggling mortal. Dudley was an instant hit with audiences, because, among other things, he was played by matinee idol Cary Grant in what became one of his most beloved performances. It didn't hurt that Dudley got to perform many of his scenes opposite a radiant Loretta Young, fresh off her Oscar-winning performance in The Farmer's Daughter.

If the various stories about the troubled production of The Bishop's Wife are true, then the fact that it plays with such apparently effortless comic grace is yet another example of how little connection there is in filmmaking between the finished product and the process that created it. Legendarily autocratic producer Samuel Goldwyn fired the film's original director, William A. Seiter, when shooting was nearly complete, and started over at an estimated cost of $1 million, a considerable sum at the time. Replacement director Henry Koster (Harvey, The Robe) reshot the entire picture and reportedly recast it as well, replacing original actress Teresa Wright (who was now pregnant) with Young in the title role, and recasting David Niven with Grant as Dudley. (There are several versions of this story.) Uncredited rewrites were performed by Billy Wilder and his partner Charles Brackett before the film reached the form in which we know it today. (The original screeplay was by Robert Sherwood and Leonardo Bercovici, adapting a novel by popular writer Robert Nathan.)

Like much of the Samuel Goldwyn library, The Bishop's Wife was first released on DVD by HBO Films in 1997. A second DVD was issued by MGM in 2001. Both were featureless except for a trailer, and Warner has not added any new features for the Blu-ray. Unfortunately, it has added a video glitch that, while not fatal to one's viewing pleasure, will probably result in a recall. I discuss it in more detail in the Video section.

Bishop Henry Brougham (Niven), who is probably an Episcopalian in New York City, though neither the place nor the denomination is specified, is a troubled man. The parish he served before his elevation has fallen on hard times, and its cathedral is in a state of disrepair. Though the Bishop himself has moved with his family to a tonier district, all his thoughts bend to his old neighborhood, where he dreams of a restoration that will make the cathedral a beacon of hope. But funding is needed, and this means coddling wealthy donors, especially the crotchety Mrs. Hamilton (Gladys Cooper), who recommended Brougham for the bishop's post and will only fulfill her $1 million financial pledge if the cathedral is designed as a monument to her late husband.

Between placating Mrs. Hamilton and negotiating with other donors, church elders and board members, the Bishop feels alienated not only from his life of faith and service, but also from his wife, Julia (Young), and daughter, Debby (Karolyn Grimes, better known as Jimmy Stewart's daughter "Zuzu Bailey"). When Brougham prays for assistance, heaven sends Dudley (Grant) to help him, but Dudley won't let his charge tell anyone else that he's an angel (not that Brougham entirely believes it himself). A running joke is that every time the Bishop is on the verge of uttering the word, Dudley causes something to interrupt him. He introduces himself to everyone as Bishop Brougham's new assistant.

If the main action of the film involves Dudley gradually bringing the Bishop to an understanding of what he truly wants—not surprisingly, it isn't an ornate cathedral—the real pleasure of The Bishop's Wife is watching Dudley charm everyone around him with his obvious delight in the tiniest detail of earthly existence. Grant plays him like a well-informed alien (he even says he's from another planet), with a child's wonder at everything he sees. Knowing that his time with these people will be brief, Dudley wants to spend as much of it with them as possible, which is why he's most likely to use angel "magic" to speed up the Bishop's work, so that he can hurry off to accompany Julia shopping, dining, ice skating or visiting with her old friend, Professor Wutheridge (Monty Woolley), on whom Dudley bestows the gift of a sherry bottle that never empties.

Even the minor characters are enchanted by Dudley, and his interactions with them add to the fun. Matilda, the Brougham's housekeeper, is played by the great Elsa Lanchester, who can make even the smallest domestic interaction into a comic routine. Mildred Cassaway (Sara Haden), the Bishop's dour secretary, positively blossoms in Dudley's presence. Eventually Dudley comes face to face with the formidable Mrs. Hamilton, who finds herself baring her soul and revealing the true reason she has treated the Bishop so badly.

Of course, The Bishop's Wife is best known for its almost-love affair between Dudley and Julia Brougham, which Grant and Young handle so adroitly that the transfer of their emotional bond to the rekindled love between Julia and her husband seems quite natural. Still, the undeniable charisma with which Grant invests Dudley may help explain why The Bishop's Wife has never maintained the diverse and passionate following accorded It's a Wonderful Life. Despite the similarity of their ultimate message about community, family, caring and concern, it's the latter film that makes these virtues feel like a joyous occasion, whereas The Bishop's Wife feels more like the major event with which it concludes: a sermon. Despite George Bailey's dark night of the soul, the Bailey household is, by and large, a cheerful place filled with joy and laughter, never more so than at the conclusion of Capra's film. The Brougham household may someday achieve that state, but it has a long way to go. It's Dudley who's the source of all the fun throughout The Bishop's Wife, and when he leaves at the end, you'd really like to follow him.

The Bishop's Wife Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Before I evaluate the transfer and mastering of Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, I want to identify a glitch that I suspect will result in a recall and replacement, once Warner has verified the problem. At timemark 29:48, during the scene where Dudley returns to the Bishop's study to file index cards, a few frames from an unrelated scene abruptly appear and then vanish. The scene is an earlier one of Dudley and the Professor standing outside the cathedral. The transition is so quick that the mistake appears to be electronic, as if something went awry during the assembly of various portions of the digital master after it had been color-corrected and repaired. A similar glitch was seen with repeating frames in Starship Troopers, but the frames came from the same scene; these frames come from an entirely different scene.

Aside from this flaw, which should have been caught in QC, Warner has provided a first-rate presentation of cinematographer Gregg Toland's typically fine work. Black and white levels, shades of gray, fine detail and natural film grain are all appropriately represented, and although this is obviously a studio production shot on soundstages and backlots, the sense of texture adds to the storybook quality that helps makes The Bishop's Wife a timeless tale. Even the period fashions, including a ladies hat that plays a small but important role, seem not to be of any particular age other than "yesteryear". When Dudley and Julia visit the Professor's small apartment—and Dudley changes the old man's life—the scene is immeasurably enhanced by the visible clutter of books, papers and historical bric-a-bric visible around the room.

Between the black windowbox bars and the relatively light amount of action (except for the ice skating scene), the average bitrate of 24.96 Mbps is sufficient for this black-and-white film.

The Bishop's Wife Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's original mono audio soundtrack is presented as lossless DTS-HD MA 1.0, and it sound excellent. Voices are clear, sound effects are vivid, and the score by Hugo Friedhofer (The Best Years of Our Lives) strikes the right balance between light comedy and delicate sentiment. The sequence where Dudley and Julia attend a choir rehearsal, featuring The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, captures the appropriately ethereal quality that Dudley seems to impart wherever he goes and conveys it more effectively than I suspect would be the case with an over-produced multi-channel mix from today's mixing suites.

The Bishop's Wife Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As with the previous DVD editions, the only extra is a trailer (480i; 1.33:1; 2:41), which is deliberately self-mocking in not being a trailer, although it features the three stars of the film.

The Bishop's Wife Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Bishop's Wife is a holiday classic that holds up well to repeated viewings. If you've been waiting all this time, then the video defect described above probably won't be enough to deter you from enjoying the otherwise considerable virtues of this Blu-ray presentation, especially since we're unlikely to see any kind of correction or remaster until 2014. If you're hesitating, then I suggest waiting a little longer to see how Warner addresses the problem. If not for the technical problem, this disc would be highly recommended.